Miniature Golf & Karate

We decided to head to a local fun center for some mini golf, go karting, and ice cream. We didn't keep score so I won. ;)

I obviously could not take a picture of us racing but afterward we got ice cream which was amazing!

Karate is going very well. The kids both still love it. They will soon be going for a test where they will get their first belt stripe.

Fourth of July

On the 4th of July we went to the local high school to see some fireworks. There was a festival going on and we had a LOT of fun. We did the limbo, the cha-cha, and the electric slide.

 The kids danced non-stop for hours, especially Jayden.

 We had cream soda and fried dough.

 Finally we sat down and enjoyed a half hour show of fireworks.

Library Activities

I love our library. It isn't as grand as another local library, but we have lots of great and free activities throughout the summer for the kids! Each week we participate in something. It's a great way to beat the heat but still be out of the house.

This time we participated in an event called "Dig Hand Painting", which taught the children about ancient cave art. They started off with a pencil, drawing on the library walls. They were thrilled to be able to draw on the walls since they know that is not allowed at home.

First they had to draw a picture of themselves and trace their hands.

 Then they chose one paint color for their artwork.

  And finally they blew colored sand on their artwork.

While we waited for the second program to begin that day, we enjoyed reading and playing on the computer.

Our library also distributes activity cards once a week. You can choose to do three activities in a row and win a prize, or do all nine activities and have your name entered into a raffle for free amusement park tickets.

 Both kids chose the instant prize, which was a free ice cream cone that week.

Jayden insisted on entering his program without me so I peeked in a couple of times to get pictures.

 Once they were all done, we headed off for some ice cream!

 

Homeschool Potluck

Between finishing up my classes and enjoying the summer, I have barely had time to update! We have taken some much needed time off of school work to enjoy ourselves.

At the end of last month we joined some friends for a potluck.

 They enjoyed a slip and slide.

 Caitlin and Victoria made some art together.

 And we all ate s'mores!

 We went to the park the next day.

 The kids practiced skipping stones.

R.E.A.L. Homeschool Spanish Review

In the beginning of this month I wrote about our new Spanish curriculum- R.E.A.L. Homeschool Spanish. In exchange for an honest review, I have been given the opportunity to review it and I have been beyond excited!  

Juan and I had several criteria when looking for a Spanish curriculum. Because of our schedules, one requirement was that it must have a guide that is easy to follow and already set up for us to cut down on prep time. We wanted something with a teacher's guide that we could both follow in case I had to take over lessons. We wanted a workbook because we are classical homeschoolers and prefer incorporating worksheets into our lessons for practice. We decided it had to be an ebook so it would be easy to reprint for future children. We also wanted an immersion style learning so that we could all learn together. Lots of requirements for a curriculum to fill!

We had been searching and searching for a long while and finally stumbled across R.E.A.L. Homeschool Spanish. It literally fits exactly what we had been looking for.  

Initially Juan was in charge of Spanish lessons because even though neither of us speaks perfect Spanish, his is definitely better than mine. But when I had a chance to look through the e-books I felt confident that I would have no issues teaching my children Spanish with this curriculum. 

Here are the pros of this curriculum:

• The curriculum is set up as an immersion style learning, which allows us all to learn together. I really like that it is a conversational Spanish that we are working on, instead of just colors and numbers.
• There are audio files included with the correct pronunciation of the vocabulary words. There are 10 units altogether. Each unit has a general theme. Unit 1 (which we are still working on) is about greetings. Other themes include colors, numbers, different foods, family, body parts, seasons, and a LOT more. Verbs and grammar are also addressed a little bit in this curriculum.
• Each unit comes with activity ideas and tips to the educator on how to help the lesson sink in. I really loved this part because I am not very creative but the curriculum gave me ideas on things I could do. Our favorite activity idea so far that both children loved was our puppet show. 
• There is an answer guide for the activity book.
• There is a curriculum guide which breaks down everything day by day for 48 weeks. It is open and go with very little prep time.
• While the curriculum guide does have a breakdown of things you can do, I feel it is laid back enough that you can stretch out lessons if your little one is having difficulties with it. Jayden (7yrs old) picked up phrases very quickly, while Cait (4yrs old) had a little more difficulty memorizing some of the phrases. I like that this curriculum focuses on learning the language in a fun way and I don’t feel rushed to continue through the book. The name of the curriculum itself is R(elax) E(njoy) A(spire) L(earn). Maybe the title helps me feel more laid back about it!
• There are FREE culture links on their website. These culture links also incorporate science, history, geography, music, and more!
• Dr. Karyn Williamson-Coria, the creator of this program, was incredibly kind and helpful. She took the time to respond to all of my emails in a timely fashion and even offered ideas on how I could adapt the more difficult areas to better fit my children.  Seriously fantastic customer service!
• Dr. Karyn Williamson-Coria was a homeschooling mother. This is something I consider a pro because she created a curriculum based on the experiences she had when looking for a curriculum for her children. The work that she put into this is amazing. She truly thought of all aspects of learning and put it into one curriculum. The audio files work amazingly for the auditory child. The ideas section has fantastic ideas for the kinesthetic learner. And the workbook is perfect for the visual learner. Because she was a homeschooler, she understands that different children have different learning styles. It also appeals to different types of homeschooling methods ranging from unschooling to classical homeschoolers!

Con:

• There is literally only ONE con that I can think of with this curriculum and it is something that Dr. Karyn correctly warned me about before I even downloaded the program. She warned me that the activity guide was “wordy” and might not be work for children under 8 years old. I definitely have to agree with her on this. The activity guide was definitely above Caitlin’s level. If Jayden was more fluent in Spanish I think the activity book might work for him. But right now he cannot spell or write in Spanish so the activity book doesn’t work for him either. This is definitely not a problem though. The activity book is not mandatory for the curriculum if you choose not to use workbooks.

Overall this is the absolute perfect curriculum for our family!

 
Dr. Karyn Williamson-Coria was kind enough to offer a temporary promo code for anyone interested in trying the program! Click here and select "Promo" in the tab on top. Then write the code "promo2013" (no caps, spaces, or quotation marks) in when prompted. You will receive the entire bundle for $34.95 (regularly priced at $43.99).